Author Archives: Jacqueline Guerra

Paper toss

Nationality: american
Age: 19
Occupation: student
Residence: los angeles
Performance Date: 4/18/15
Primary Language: English
Language: mandarin

RD attended high school in Palo Alto, California and graduated in 2013.

RD: “The paper toss was a tradition on the last day of school. Every senior would bring in like 3 lbs. of paper, like homework assignments, tests, any work you had from high school. So then everyone would toss all their papers into the air at brunch on the last day of school, it was a paper cut waiting to happen”

Was it all at the same time?

RD:”Yeah everyone would go “1…2…3!” and then throw the papers in the air. My year some assholes decided to throw text books which was a terrible idea. So we’d throw all the papers into the air after the countdown and take a big picture while it was happening.”

How long have they been doing it?

RD: “They’ve been doing it forever. Probably like 30 years, they always do it”

Easter Tradition

Nationality: American
Age: 60
Occupation: Teacher
Residence: Denver, Colorado
Performance Date: 4/18/15
Primary Language: English

What is the Easter Tradition:

MG: “Part of  the easter tradition is we used to do a scavenger hunt in the backyard with the traditional fake eggs. Then we’d go into the house and I put little signs from the easter bunny to look all over the house. I’d have little things hidden I thought the kids would like that weren’t too expensive, I’d usually go to Walgreens. I’d get coloring books and crayons, jumpropes, like a plastic bat and ball for Justin, things for the sand box. Oh! Also stuff I didn’t normally give you all the time, doritos and I got your brother that really sugary soda he used to always want. At each new spot there would be a little present and another note from the easter bunny telling you where to look next. The very last note always had a big easter basket with lots of candy, chocolate, peeps, stuff like that.

Where did you learn this tradition?

MG: “From Mandy the babysitter. She told me her families tradition, told me it was a part of their family and explained how to do it.

Why did you start doing it:

MG: “I just wanted to establish our own family traditions”

 

I thought this was an interesting example of folklore because it was passed from someone younger to someone older, which is opposite of how many people think folklore is spread. In this case Mandy, the younger babysitter, taught my mom her families tradition. It shows that as long as folklore is compelling and coming from a trustworthy source, it does not have to come from a person of great influence or power, like a parent telling a child.

MG’s response of why she started doing it was intriguing because she said she “wanted to establish [her] own family traditions” even though it was borrowing from another families traditions. Even though it wasn’t a unique practice, it was unique and new to her because no one in her family had ever done it. Therefore it was still considered a “new” and “unique” tradition even though it had been borrowed from another family.

Feast of the 7 Fishes

Nationality: american
Age: 60
Occupation: teacher
Residence: denver
Performance Date: 4/18/15
Primary Language: English

Feast of the seven fishes is a traditional Italian meal made on Christmas Eve:

MG: “I learned about it from your Dad’s dad. They did it back in New Jersey and we tried to bring it in Colorado. Technically it’s the “feast of the seven fishes” and you’re supposed to have seven fish dishes, but we made some adaptations. Some of the dishes are real traditional. One was salted cod cause salted cod doesn’t go bad when you don’t refrigerate it. Pretty much every ancient civilization had a cod dish cause it didn’t go bad, it smells really bad though. So your grandpa would salt it for awhile and soak it in water and it’s revived and you can cook it. We also had roasted smelt and pickled herring, but no one liked it in Colorado. We had to get the cod flown in too. Back in New Jersey your grandpa would just go to the Italian deli but they don’t have those in Colorado really. We decided it was too much work when the only one who ate it was your dad. Your grandpa taught me how to make the dishes when I would go over when I was still in high school. He would be cooking for days, he would do everything himself. Me and you dad split the work for our version”

How did you change the traditional meal?

MG: “Well we added food for the people who don’t eat seafood. We added ham, eggplant parmesan and baked stuffed shells. But we still try to have seven types of fish, usually raw clams, baked stuffed clams, shimp momma leoni, lobster, king crab, scallops, green lip mussels and blake mussels.”

Who do you invite over for dinner?

MG:”Just family friends and family usually. We try to invite a lot of people because we make so much food. When your grandpa would do it they would invite all their friends, it was like a big party. It’s supposed to have a religious meaning but it was just a big party for their family so that’s what we try to do. It’s not religious at all. A lot of jews end up being there actually cause they don’t have anywhere to be on Christmas Eve”

This was a good example of how traditions can mobilize and adapt to new areas. Additionally, the fact that there was originally a religious connotation but the event could be celebrated without any religious aspect was interesting.

Chinese New Year

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: student
Residence: los angeles
Performance Date: 4/25/15
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin

The informant, RD, describes the dishes and gatherinings her family partakes in for Chinese New Year:

RD: “So there was four main dishes that we made every year. The first was dumplings with one single peanut inside. Not every dumpling had a peanut inside so the people who got the peanut dumplings were the lucky ones who were supposed to have a good year. The next dish was a sticky rice with different kinds of fruit which you’d lay out on the new year. Well you made two, so one for you to eat and then one for the gods. It shows that gods that you are giving back and lets you pray for a year of hope and prosperity. And the other two dishes I don’t know how to explain in english (laughs), yeah I have no idea how to explain them. Oh but there was a lot of fish and meat because it was supposed to be, like, extravagant. People would pull out all the stops.

Who would make all the dishes?

RD: When it was at my house my mom and dad would make all the food, but it would switch between households every year. Like some years we’d go to my parents friends house and then other times all their friends would come over.

Was it mainly friends who came?

RD: “Yeah it was my parents friends and then we could invite our friends too. There wasn’t very many family members there because most of my parents relatives were still back in China. There was also a red bag tradition that we did every year where each child child would get a little red bag from there parents with money in it, like 100-500 dollars”

Was the money just a present?

RD: “It was supposed to recognize the child for having a great year, like it showed how proud your family was and how much you accomplished during the year.”

I thought the dishes they made for Chinese New Year were very interesting especially the dumpling with the peanut in it. It seems similar to many other food traditions, like when someone finds the baby figurine in the cake during Mardi Gras. It seems to be a common theme of people being lucky when they find something special in their food. This feeds a lot into the power of superstition on people’s beliefs.

I also thought the red bag was interesting because it signifies the pride of the parents. I though that was a unique way of receiving a gift. Unlike Christmas where you are granted gifts, I thought it was interesting that the children earn the money by being successful and sources of pride for their families.

Cabbage Night

Nationality: american
Age: 60
Occupation: accountant
Residence: denver, colorado
Performance Date: 4/21/15
Primary Language: English

What is cabbage night?

RG: “It’s the night before Halloween. Some people called it mischief night, but we always called it cabbage night. But it was basically a mischief night, you’d throw toilet paper at houses and throw eggs and people would write in shaving cream in people’s driveways. It was really fun and just really counterproductive. People you didn’t like  you would egg their house, we had egg fights, put shaving cream on people”

Would you go out with your friends?

RG: “You would go out in packs. Packs of your friends, I was with all guys but girls did it too. And then the police would chase us around, I got caught by the cops a couple times and they put all the eggs in my pockets and hit you with your night stick and the eggs would crack in your pockets. That happened to me a couple times”

Would you target certain people?

RG: “Oh ya. If you had someone crazy in your neighborhood you’d go after them, there was specific targets you’d go after. There was a lady who lived around the corner from us who called the cops on us all the time because she was obsessed with her lawn”

“Cabbage night” was interesting because it was similar to Halloween in that it was acceptable to do things you normally couldn’t do. Just as on Halloween you were supposed to take strangers from candy, which you normally couldn’t do, cabbage night encouraged mischievous activities that were normally prohibited. Although there were slight repercussions, it was generally acceptable for young kids to wreak havoc on a town.